About Us

Admissions

All admissions enquiries must be directed to Portsmouth City Council School Admissions Department. This applies for Reception Entry and all mid-term transfers.

Structure

Within Catholic schools, the Governing Body is the admissions authority for the school and makes decisions on admissions issues. The Governing Body of St Swithun’s School delegates this responsibility to the Admissions Committee. The membership of the Admissions Committee consists of 3 governors appointed by the full Governing Body plus the Head Teacher. The Governing Body also appoints a Chair of the Committee and at least 3 members of the committee must be present when reviewing applications made to the school. The committee meets once per term and as places arise within the school in consultation with the Local Authority.

Roles and Responsibilities

The main role of the Admissions Committee is:

To draft and review the school’s Admission Policy

To assume responsibility for the implementation of the policy

To report all admissions to the full Governing body in broad terms

The Admission’s Committee consults with other Admissions Authorities and works closely with other Catholic schools and the Diocese to draft the school’s Admission Policy, including the admissions criteria, which must be approved annually by the full Governing Body. The Admissions Policy is published on our school’s website and it sets out the categories of children in descending order of priority to show who is eligible for a place at the school.

When the Admissions Committee receives details of applications made to the school, it is their responsibility to rank the applications using the admissions criteria and forward this to the Local Authority. This is an on-going process throughout the year as and when school places become available.